Hundreds of fans flocked to Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood on Friday, to be one of the lucky ones to get their hands on merchandise from the rapper's surprise "Pablo" pop up shop, named after his last album The Life of Pablo. West announced the shop last minute, tweeting the location on Thursday. The shop will be there until Sunday, he said.

Fans, fashion lovers and resellers alike traveled to Mecca as early as the night before to be first in line. By the time 4 p.m. rolled around, there were hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting, mostly young, well-dressed and sporting Yeezys, or some other West-approved streetwear, like camo and baggy denim jackets. Some were still in school uniforms, clearly skipping straight here from the classroom.

There was a touch of frenzy in the air, fans close to the front were quick to anger if it looked like someone was cutting them. The closest to the front argued amongst each other, determined to be the very first person in line.

Such is the power of an event brought to you by Kanye West.

People in West's inner circle flitted in and out of the store as it opened. Mike Dean, a longtime producer and collaborator, breezed through the heavily protected doors, all while walking his tiny dog.

Model Luka Sabbat, who's featured in West's Yeezy Season shows, loped in side by side with Ian Connor, a stylist and consultant who's also modeled in the Yeezy Season shows. Teens snapped pictures of them as they skulked by.

The front of the line at Kanye West's pop-up shop.

Image: Liz Pierson/mashable

Image: Liz Pierson/mashable

Inside, the store was sparse and spacious, with clothing tucked off to the sides. The Life of Pablo blared over the speakers, occasionally mixed in with songs by Future. On one wall were projected images of everything from wolves to fires to roses to O.J. Simpson driving away in that white Bronco.

Resting on gold-colored hangers were blue and maroon "I Feel Like Pablo" shirts that ranged from $40 to $65, along with hoodies and bomber jackets. Beanies and baseball hats were available at the cash register.

Theholy grail of items, though, was the racks of denim jackets. They were all Levi brand, but no two jackets were alike, either covered in massive "PABLO" script on the back, or marked all over in black marker with messages like "The Life of Pablo." Some had plaid lining, some wool, some with leopard-print collars. And all of them were $400.

To keep the store's bare aesthetic, employees only ushered in 15 customers at a time ... who then calmly spent thousands of dollars on everything they could get their hands on.

Though they were Kanye West fans, a lot of them knew the value of reselling Yeezy-approved merch. One customer dropped $3,620. Why? To "make money, man" he gleefully said.

Hugh Mo, 21, a college student, told Mashable he spent "north of a grand" on a jacket, a windbreaker, a hoodie and more.

"To tell you the truth, eight out of every 10 people in here are going to get rid of what they bought," he surmises. "The markup price — it’s really hard to refuse. You can get at least 50% more than what you paid.”

Don't get him wrong though — he's still a big Kanye West fan, and owns every pair of sneakers the rapper has put out.

Hugh Mo, 21, poses with his purchases in the Kanye West pop up shop.

Image: Liz Pierson/mashable

Dave Brisco, a local EMT, also tells Mashable that he was there both to support West and to resell some merchandise. He recently tore his ACL and was reselling the items on the side while he heals. West's stuff is a reseller's dream, he says.

"Anything he puts on right now is just crazy," he says.

Brisco spent around $700 or $800. He won't sell it all though — he'll keep a hat and shirt for himself. He'll definitely get back "twice as much" for what he sells, estimating he could even make upwards of $6,000.

Ultimately, getting in line at 8 a.m. this morning to wait for merch will all be worth it.

His friend, Sean King, got there the same time and says "people were here last night." Unlike the resellers, King was just there because he loves West.

"I loved Kanye since day one, College Dropout," he tells Mashable.

Both he and Brisco love The Life of Pablo, though they argue over which version of the song "Wolves" is better. West originally released the song featuring Vic Mensa and Sia, but the album version only features Frank Ocean (though he's now changed the album version back to Mensa and Sia), a point of contention for TLOP lovers.

"This version of 'Wolves' has me so freakin' pissed off," Brisco says with a laugh.

"I like this version the most!" King retorts.

Carl Francis, another local college student (and aspiring rapper with the stage name Supremer Carl), tells Mashable he was there just because he loves West and fashion and only bought two items. He didn't want to wait in line though ("I don't do lines"), managing to hop inside with a friend who waited since 11 a.m.

It's hard for him to pick his favorite West album, so he makes it a three-way tie between Late Registration, Graduationand My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Though he hesitates to call West the greatest artist alive, he does say the rapper is so gifted he could make incredible music in his sleep.

"It's nothing to him, that’s why he wants to explore and venture out into other business stuff," he says.

Carl Francis holds a bag of Kanye West merchandise.

Image: liz pierson/mashable

Francis knows people might think it's crazy to build so much hype around the clothes, but he has a simple explanation: "This is what we do!" Fashion is what he loves and if he has to wait in line, so be it. Er, well, without the actual waiting part.

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